Nepal Trip :: Meeting the Sewing Team

MEETING THE NEPALI SEWING TEAM

First, we met with Ramesh, whose heart is greater than gold. For 20 years he has been rescuing girls from traffickers and his love for them is bigger than we ever knew. Today his organization rescues 20,000 girls per year. His dream is to give each of them a job offer so they do not have to go back into poverty. According to Ramesh, poverty is the number one reason a girl (or her parents on her behalf) can be lured by the deception of a sex trafficker. The ages of these girls vary, and some haven't even hit puberty yet.

The first full day in Nepal started off accompanying Ramesh to the bank, and customs. We wanted to get a feel for what he has to do in order to receive our shipments so they can start sewing our newest styles. It was such a task. We actually had to wait til the next day for the shipment to be released to us.

We met the Master Sewer Madan who is teaching the girls how to sew. He is the Master because he is very experienced in sewing and training.

Roshani, a very smart young lady, will be our head quality control person. She speaks and writes English. She is a delight, and we enjoyed going over all the steps and checklist with her.

We then invited Madan in our meeting, and I went over each style showing them things to look out for in inspection. It was a successful day. Madan seemed very confident in being able to execute each style, and that brought so much peace.

So far the sewing team consist of Madan, Roshani, and four young rescued girls which are fairly new, but full of ambition and eager to learn.

﻿ Madan working with two of the rescued girls.

KATIE'S WORDSAugust 7, 2013

As Wildy and Melanie email me updates while they are in Nepal, I can't help but sit in awe of everything happening. A big part of me wants to be with them, but with a baby on the way, I'm hanging in New York. I trust that everything is working out for a reason, and know that Wildy is perfect for this trip.

The longer we've been working with the Nepali team, the more I am inspired to grow Elegantees to allow Ramesh to hire more girls. Sometimes I feel like my efforts are insignificant because there is a long line of women who want work, but it's ultimately in God's hands to secure an order large enough to employ them all. I am reminded though that the girls we are able to help at the time are significant, and it's all worth it!

One of the hopes in this trip is to be able to simplify some of the processes, as well as find out if we really could handle a big sewing order in the near future and do it well. I am eager to see how this will come together.